YAMAHA DX7 Digital Synthesizer 1983 + JAHN SPX 1.6 Expansion | HD DEMO

(c) 2020 by AnalogAudio1

Demo of the YAMAHA DX7 digital synthesizer (frequency modulation synthesis) from 1983. I played it along with a Lexicon MPX 500 (reverb).

This DX7 has the JAHN SPX 1.6 installed. This was a great expansion from Germany in the eighties. It competed with the Grey Matter E! expansion. It is a simple hardware board that's plugged into the ROM sockets of the DX7. It adds some very cool features which improves the sound greatly, such as "double" mode (2 voices per key/8 voice polyphonic) and "quadro" mode (4 voices per key/4 voice polyphonic), which makes the sound really fat. These voices (of the same sound) can be detuned like on analog synths, to make fat sounds possible. It also expands the RAM memory to 128 (4 internal banks). The MIDI OUT channel can be set from 1 to 16 (not only MIDI IN). MIDI local OFF function as well. I bought the new backlit display from Ebay few years ago - this has nothing to do with the SPX expansion.

The DX7 MK1 is my favorite DX7 version. I prefer it over the newer DX7II, because it has the better basic sound with a typical frequency response, has a more solid MIDI timing, is simpler to use/to program (even with the smaller display) and it has better build quality (but also heavier). And you have a real classic, which is heard on tons of eighties hits.